BATON ROUGE, La. – The main topic of conversation this time of year in
this city normally centers on the pre-season ranking of the Louisiana
State University Bengal Tigers.

This is no normal year. Students started arriving for the fall semester
last week, moving into their dorms and apartments, but the normal
routine has been disrupted by the announcement that a serial killer is
on the loose here in Louisiana's capital city.

Women are buying guns and pepper spray at a record pace and checking
their cars, their houses and their neighborhoods for anything suspicious.

AP

Ed Piglia and Lynne Marino, family of slain Pam Kinamore, are offering a $75,000 reward for information on the killer.

Melissa Blackledge, 19, a native of Baton Rouge and a student at
Mississippi State University, said her mother was so afraid for her
safety that she decided to get her brother Ryan Blackledge to show her
how to use a gun. She was testing out a .22 caliber Ruger revolver at
the Precision Firearms indoor firing range.

News of a serial killer in her hometown, she said, is "kind of an
incentive to go shoot. I know what to do. I got my pepper spray. But my
mom's terrified. She's really scared, scared to death."

DNA evidence

Police say the killer has been linked by DNA evidence to the deaths of at
least three women since last September, and they're checking dozens of
other unsolved killings in the last decade to see if other cases could be
related.

Investigators are not revealing much of what they know about the killer.
But based on a couple of key tips, and the fact that all three victims
were attacked in their homes with no sign of forced entry, police are
looking for a white male driving a white pickup truck who may be wearing
the uniform of a police officer or a deliveryman.

The fear is so pervasive here it even has some Southern girls
questioning the value of chivalry.

"You always think about Southern courtesy," said Loren Henagen, 21, a
senior at LSU from Baton Rouge. "But now you question, 'is this guy
opening the door for me because he's going to grab me?' "

Authorities decline to say whether the slain women were sexually
assaulted, or what the DNA evidence linking them is exactly.

The victims were:

• Pam Kinamore, 44, a decorator and suburban Denham Springs antiques
store owner who was found with her throat cut on July 16 in a secluded
area under the Whiskey Bay exit ramp bridge off Interstate 10 near Baton
Rouge. Police said she had been abducted from her Briarwood Place home
July 12.

• Charlotte Murray Pace, 22, an LSU MBA graduate who was stabbed to
death in her Sharlo townhouse May 31.

• Gina Wilson Green, 41, a nurse who was strangled in her Stanford
Avenue home Sept. 24.

Ms. Pace lived three doors down from Ms. Green at the time of Ms.
Green's death. But Ms. Pace had moved to a new neighborhood just days
before she was killed. If there are other links between the victims, the
police are not saying.

Ms. Kinamore's family is offering a $75,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. Workers raised two
billboards advertising the reward last week, one near Ms. Kinamore's
house and another near her antiques store. Both boards have a large
picture of Ms. Kinamore and the words "Justice for Pam. Justice for All."

Finding a connection

The families of these three victims are communicating with each other,
trying to assist authorities in the investigation and to make a connection
between them.

"We have not been able to come up with anything that is common for all
three, and, believe me, we're trying," said Ann Pace, Charlotte Murray
Pace's mother.

"I think whatever connections there are to be made are floating in his
sick, revolting, evil head," she said. "We're trying to apply
traditional reasoning and rational techniques to an irrational person."

Mrs. Pace said that, based on what the police told her, her daughter put
up a fight, so the killer may have injuries.

A task force of 40 investigators – including the FBI and local and state
authorities – has been assembled to work on the case. Police have set up
a hot line at 225-389-3310.

Possible leads

Baton Rouge police said last week they were looking for a white pickup
truck in connection with Ms. Kinamore's murder. Several hours after Ms.
Kinamore disappeared, someone reported seeing a 1996 or 1997 white
Chevrolet pickup truck exit the interstate with a white man driving and a
nude white woman slumped over in the passenger seat. The truck's rear
bumper had a sloppy black paint job.

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Lt. Tiffany Tate said investigators from
her office have been in contact with Baton Rouge authorities to discuss
a man posing as a police officer who pulled a woman over and raped her
on Interstate 10 near Slidell on July 14. Lt. Tate said the man was in a
white truck that had flashing red and blue lights on the dashboard and a
white or beige leather interior. That suspect was described as a
muscular white man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with light hair, probably
in his mid- to late 20s.

Investigators also are looking at an attempted kidnapping Tuesday in
nearby Geismar to see if it's connected to the serial killer. The man in
that case was seen driving a black pickup truck of the same make and
model as the white truck sought in the Baton Rouge case.

Ms. Kinamore's family has appealed to Gov. Mike Foster, asking for him
to pressure agencies to devote more manpower and resources to the case.

'Lock your door'

On his weekly radio show last week, Mr. Foster reminded women that they
can carry weapons to protect themselves.

"You have the right to get a gun permit. Learn to use it," the governor
said. "I mean, if it really gets to the point where any more of this
happens, get Mace, carry a baseball bat, lock your door, don't let
anybody in you don't know."

Gun shops report increased sales during the last few weeks.

Precision Firearms store manager Will Saint said first-time female
buyers increased from about two a week to at least 10 a week. Sales to
men have quadrupled, he said. Sales of pepper spray and Mace are also
up, from one or two canisters a week, he said, to "600 in the past two
weeks."

State police said they've received 447 requests for concealed weapons
permits in the first week of this month compared with 262 such requests
for August 2001. Officials said most of the requests came from the Baton
Rouge area.

Glynn Wilson is a free-lance writer based in New Orleans. The
Associated Press contributed to this report.